Black Sticks men unbeaten at Games

2:21 pm on 1 August 2014

The New Zealand men's hockey team finished top of their pool at the Glasgow Commonwealth games after going unbeaten with a 6-1 win over Malaysia in their final game.

The Black Sticks will now face ninth-ranked India in their semi-final while England will play world number one and the four-times defending champions Australia.

Drag flicker Andy Hayward got the side off the mark with a penalty corner conversion inside the first five minutes.

Although the New Zealanders dominated the game, it took 20 minutes to double their advantage when Bradley Shaw drove into the circle to smack it past the Malaysian goalkeeper giving the Kiwis a 2-0 lead at half-time.

New Zealand pulled away in the second half, scoring back to back goals through Nick Haig, scoring on his 150th appearance, and Hugo Inglis who capitalised on a poor clearance from Malaysia.

Another Hayward drag flick extended the lead to five goals before Shea McAleese added another after some clever play from Simon Child along the baseline.

Malaysia managed a late consolation goal.

Captain Dean Couzins says going into the tournament, they wanted to win all their pool games and finish top of the table.

He says it's very exciting, it's a busy year and now he feels they have got the chance to earn something really good and that's an exciting challenge for them.

The New Zealand women play in the semi-final against England tomorrow morning and the New Zealand men will play India in their semi-final on Saturday night.